Two Cuban nationals indicted for using skimmers to steal identities and make fake credit cards, which they used to make purchases at stores in Mentor, Canton, Cleveland, Cuyahoga Falls and Oakwood Village

Two Cuban nationals from Miami were indicted for using credit card skimmers to steal identities and make fake credit cards, which they used to make purchases at Sam’s Club stores in Mentor, Canton, Cleveland, Cuyahoga Falls, Oakwood Village and elsewhere.

Silvio Leon, 45, and Pablo Arrechavaleta, 41, were indicted for conspiracy to commit access device (credit card) fraud, access device fraud and aggravated identity theft.

Leon, Arrechavaleta and others covertly installed credit card skimmers on gas station pumps in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Colorado, Iowa and elsewhere between May 2016 and June 2018. They then downloaded the stolen credit card information and stored it on flash drives, according to the indictment.

Leon, Arrechavaleta and others then re-encoded the stolen account information and other data onto counterfeit credit cards, which they used to make purchases at Sam’s Club stores in Mentor, Canton, Cuyahoga Falls, Cleveland, Oakwood Village and elsewhere, according to the indictment.

They had information for nearly 5,000 credit card accounts when they were arrested, according to court documents.

This case was investigated by the FBI and Mentor Police Department. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Elliot Morrison.

If convicted, the defendant’s sentence will be determined by the Court after review of factors unique to this case, including the defendant’s prior criminal record, if any, the defendant's role in the offense and the characteristics of the violation.  In all cases the sentence will not exceed the statutory maximum and in most cases it will be less than the maximum.

An indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt.  A defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.